Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Keepin' It Clean...One Line at a Time

I'm sure I'll get all kind of grief for this post, but I have a favor to ask of my Flipster friends. It's not difficult and it doesn't hurt at all (good news so far). It doesn't cost anything (yay) and it won't take any time at all - it may save you time. You'll probably think my request is either unique or totally unacceptable.

I don't want to delete anyone's post, because I welcome them all and want to encourage you to put your two cents in even more often!

See, the thing is that I spend a lot of time with young people and therefore, they wander over to the land of the BIRDDOGGING flipgeezer. Granted, I address a lot of the world's craziness in my observations but I'm always going to try to be creative rather than vulgar (see colorful substitutions). Believe me, it's not easy some days but it helps that I try to keep that out of my day to day conversations (note I said "try"... Lord knows, it can be hard and I'm not an older version of Pollyanna; the flipchick has been 'round the proverbial block).

I'm contemplating the responses, so I'll address a few:

You! Quit making that face! Don't you know it will stick that way?

"Young folks have peers who may be cursing a blue streak daily." I'll be the yin to that yang.

"This isAMERICA and I have freedom of speech." I'm asking you to tap into your freedom not to say things, as a favor.

"Media - particularly entertainment - is just saturated with it. Young people will see horrible language in print and online anyhow." ...just not here.

"What's the big deal?" It's such a small amount of effort on my part.I can do that. I'm hoping you're willing to help me.

"You've reviewed some DINGO books and movies with language!!" Yes, I have reviewed books and movies that have a disappointing amount of bad language, I see and hear it everywhere. I'm not on a one-woman crusade here because I know it would be futile, I'm just talking about my one little blog-o-sphere...

"You're not talking about my CURLY FRY blog, are you?" What someone writes on their blog is their business.It would be nice to have a co-hort in my quest, but I only ask for one favor at a time, once every fifty-five years. I hope you're around for the next one in 2070...now THAT one is going to be a doosie.

"Delete the comments, I don't give a CORNDOG if you do!" I believe most people will help you out, if you just ask. Please? Help me keep the nasty language out, and if there is a slip, I will say "oops" and delete it. Don't have hard feelings, should that occur. It's not condemnation - just clean up.

Thank you, in advance, if you choose to join the Flipside Ecological Team: Keepin' It Clean-ish!

This is great news, my friend.Finally...FINALLY...Janie Junebug's comments will indeed be removed!

All seriousness aside, Louis C.K. and I are behind you 1000%. (BA-DUM-BUMP)

I say let's keep nasty language where it belongs...out on the street, on Shady's blog and on Janie Junebug's.

The only problem I have is not knowing for sure what you mean by "nasty" language. Do you mean hateful rants? Do you mean conversational curse words used for added emphasis? Do you mean s-x--l innuendo? It might be helpful if you post a list of all the words we are not allowed to use here on the Flipside. After all, that type of list was very useful to George Carlin. :)

I was relieved when you showed up late last evening to post replies to comments, dear friend. You had been m.i.a. all day long and I was getting worried, Hope all is well. Have a wonderful Wednesday, dear friend Cherdo!

Oh, it's just the actual profanity. I never see truly, truly hateful rants on this blog and I'm grateful for that. All the rants I do (and see) are humor laced. But a person can state their dislike of a subject and get their point across without the cursing most of the time. Again, just talking about my blog. And it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

If you were crossing the line, I'd kindly email you because we are friends...then I'd delete that puppy so fast... (ha ha ha).

Reality check: a teen told me about some of the language that was in comments yesterday. She was surprised that I didn't delete the comments, "it didn't seem like my style". I was running errands and didn't see them. But, yeah, she's right...I can just delete them. The thing about it is I don't want to delete comments but I do agree with her. Maybe I'll just ask this favor.

Hubzam is home this week and we were running about, doing errands, and looking for some final supplies for the next three shows. Why is it there is always one thing you can't find??? He despises shopping, but will drive my limo all over town, if asked (bwahahaha...limo).

Thanks for worrying about me! I'll be really out of pocket tomorrow, too, but at night - I'm like the plague. I'm everywhere. Have a great day.

I like these words! I don't use profanity online...I actually used the word "butt" yesterday when the alternate word would have given my comment much more punch! Gotta keep it clean. You never know who's reading.

That is what I do, too! You'll notice "Shazzbatt" is a favorite and dern can't be held back. I figure I'll get a lot of flack but I asked. I really am only talking about profanity.

And truthfully, poking fun at people or celebrities is done for fun, but to actually call them names is off limits. I'm even pretty stingy with words like dumb or stupid, unless I am referring to myself. You never know what people are going through and the last thing I want to do is add to their grief. I want to keep it fun, if I can control it at all.

Seriously, I'm fine with this. It's YOUR blog and so you get to set the rules.

>>... a teen told me about some of the language that was in comments yesterday. She was surprised that I didn't delete the comments, "it didn't seem like my style".

The first thing I did was to check and see if I'd posted a comment on yesterday's blog bit. I hadn't. PHEW!

But I want to echo Shecky Shady Shaft's Q about what is and is not considered off limits, because I'm not clear on that. We all have our own definitions of what constitutes profanity, and my own, I know, is fairly unique. For instance, I always attempt to avoid the F-woid, and those times when I slip, it usually means I was extraordinarily POed about something. There are a few other words I naturally try not to use (or overuse) and for years, I too have invented creative new words as substitutes for profanity (something I probably got from my Pa, who did the same).

I'm afraid though that as I've gotten older, I've become a bit more liberal. NOT politically! Oh, lawdy, NOT THAT WAY! But with the use of slightly more off-color words. And there are some words that I don't find offensive at all that perhaps a small number of people still would.

Examples: For many years I have said that "heck" and "dang" (and I mean the slightly more high-octane versions of those euphemisms) are to me like "salt" and "pepper" in my writing (i.e., a little seasoning so my stew isn't too bland to consume). And after all, in my King James version of The Holy Bible, in Matthew 23:33, it's not exactly "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the dangnation of heck?" that Lord Jesus says.

So, in 'CHERDO'S GUIDEBOOK OF ACCEPTABLE LANGUAGE', would the "real" versions of those two words be considered off-limits? (I'm just trying to gauge how strict this law is so I'll know not to break it inadvertently.)

Off the top of your mind, can you point me to any previous comment I've left that may have made you uncomfortable, so I can get a better idea of what's considered unacceptable? Because, although certain words are obviously OUT, I fear I'm a bit fuzzy on just how severe this rule is, and I do NOT want to screw it up. (Should I have said "mess it up" instead? ;-)

I ask you, how CAN we escape the dangnation of heck? How the heck can we? Thanks for saying you are fine with it, because I enjoy your comments WAY TOO MUCH.

In CHERDO'S GUIDEBOOK OF ACCEPTABLE LANGUAGE, heck and dang versions would not be addressed because I'd be busy addressing the truly bad stuff and I'd want to chose my battles.

>>I fear I'm a bit fuzzy on just how severe this rule is<< 1. I don't think you fear anything.2. It's not that severe and easy to manage. Avoid the short George Carlin list.3. Go, Class of 77.

I've posted 232 things since January, and this is the first time I deleted anything. So, we're good. OOPS, I lied - I deleted the nut who posted about being "anti-American-women" the other day. He was Anonymous...he's even more so now.

Well, that is only fair and we should respect it:) I hope I have not left anything...naughty or bad as i can write something and not even think it a bad word. My dad was a lumberman and i grew up with his colourful language although he was never allowed to use that one word around my mom

Seriously, I have no problem doing that...but I just wanted to lay my reasons out there for all to see. Maybe I won't have to, eh? I don't hold it against anyone; it's not like I never said anything bad.

I knew someone who said, "The English language has 1,034,872 words, of which three percent are vulgar or obscene. SURELY you can find SOME words you can use out of the remaining 1,003,826!” I didn’t check his math, just nodded.